Today’s Adventure – NEHGS

The above video only hints at the massive crowds that flooded Boston in preparation for the Bruin’s parade today. Why did they have to choose THIS month to take back the Stanley cup?? We left our hotel at 8:30 a.m., giving us plenty of time to get to New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) by 9 a.m. It’s one of my favorite libraries with six floors filled with books, microfilm, microfiche and periodicals on New England families. It’s a genealogists dream!

I digress. Getting back to our trip to NEHGS, we knew we were in for trouble when we attempted to get on the subway this morning. It was full of rowdy, happy Bruins fans anxious get downtown for the parade and celebrations. After we were finally able to board, we discovered the train let us out on the wrong side of town; normally it would be fine, but the streets were closed off. We hopped in a taxi (was miraculous to find one empty), but the driver wasn’t terribly familiar with the area. (How is that????) He got us somewhat closer to where we needed to go, but in the end it didn’t matter. We had to continue to walk through throngs of people forming solid walls, trying to find where the streets reopened. Poor Ed was ready to give up, but I was not. Since NEHGS is closed tomorrow and Monday, it was my last chance to go to the library. I made it there by 12:30, four hours after we left the hotel! Oh well, better late than never, right?

I spent a good part of the afternoon looking at fabulous books on the town of Farmington (Farmington Historical Society’s Pilgrimage series), which will be our last stop in Maine next week. There were photographs of ancient homes and biographies of the families who lived there. Hopefully some of these homes are still standing.

I spent the last hour sifting through microfilms of old newspapers and probate records. Unfortunately for cousin Clarke, I was (again!) unable to locate the documents he hoped for. However, I did stumble upon Lincoln county Maine probate records, and was able to FINALLY see the microfilmed original of Job Stanwood’s probate. 🙂

Probate of Job Stanwood, 1788

Tomorrow we’re off to Plymouth for some sight seeing. Will be great to see the town of Mayflower ancestors!